The simplest strategy for maintenance per MSI is to build a single accumulating patch that includes and supersedes previous patches. You build an updated MSI to create the patch, and the patch is therefore the changes between the original shipped MSI and the new MSI. Then you have a max of three patches for your three MSIs at any point in time.
New customers (and that includes existing customers of the old product) should get something that will major upgrade the old MSIs. This is not likely to be the same MSI that you use to build the patches with because: 1 Patches shouldn't do a major upgrade, which they would if you built the patch as a diff between the original MSI and the major upgrade for new customers. 2. Your app (and maybe some new data) may have new features that you want to ship only to new customers. That means that you'll be building maintenance-only MSIs to ship patches and new product MSIs with new customers. That seems to be typical and effective practice in my experience. Phil Wilson On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 10:23 PM, KG <kelly.gr...@toltech.net> wrote: > I am implementing a new installer for a product that needs to include > several > GB of data. I'm planning on having a single MSI for the application, > several > MSIs for the data, and using burn to chain everything together. > > The data will change periodically and updates will be delivered online, so > patching is a must. I've never had to implement patches in a user facing > product before, and am confused about the following: > > The first installer will obviously be very large (as all of the data must > be > included). Once we start releasing updates, do we release a "full" update > with all of the data for new users alongside a patch update for existing > users? Is there a way to just release the patches and have the bootstrapper > download the initial msi if it's being installed by a new user? Or do we > always download the initial data msi to keep the user experience consistent > (ie, the first installer would be very small, but download the full data)? > > Any advice would be greatly appreciated! > > > > -- > View this message in context: > http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Patching-strategy-tp7591585.html > Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT > organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance > affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your > Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics > Pro! > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rapidly troubleshoot problems before they affect your business. Most IT organizations don't have a clear picture of how application performance affects their revenue. With AppDynamics, you get 100% visibility into your Java,.NET, & PHP application. Start your 15-day FREE TRIAL of AppDynamics Pro! http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=84349831&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
